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Cocaine kingpin suspect captured

The kingpin of a cocaine trafficking ring is off the streets after more than a month on the run, police said Monday.

Gary Ervin was the leader of a 16-person drug operation connected to more than five kilos of cocaine, according to the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team.

"He was a principal in the case," CNT Assistant Deputy Commander Lt. Gregory Mitchell said Monday. "Getting him off the street is a big asset."

Ervin, 51, is being held at the Chatham County jail on charges of kidnapping, trafficking cocaine over 28 grams, possession of a firearm while committing a crime, sale of a controlled substance and other charges.

CNT began investigating Ervin and his son, Kobie, in June 2005 following complaints from several neighbors at the six houses Ervin used, police said.

Over the next year, agents conducted surveillance, made undercover drug buys and gathered other intelligence linking the ring to sales of powder cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana in Chatham and Effingham counties, according to Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police.

During the investigation, police seized 2.3 kilos of cocaine, worth about $230,000 on the street. They also seized six guns, five vehicles, $9,000 cash and scales, along with wrappers from another three kilos of cocaine, police said.

The result of the investigation was a 14-count indictment handed down Sept. 27.

Following the indictment, police rounded up 15 of the suspects, but the elder Ervin eluded agents.

"We've been tracking him down," Mitchell said. "It's always good to get our most wanted list whittled down a bit."

CNT followed up on numerous tips, including making a trip to Atlanta. But it wasn't until Sunday that one finally panned out, Mitchell said.

"We got a tip he was at his family's (home) in Richmond Hill, and that's where we found him," he said.

Agents surrounded the Laurenburg Drive home around 10 p.m. Sunday. They found Ervin hiding in a closet, police said.

CNT initially arrested Ervin in June on outstanding probation violation warrants, but that wasn't enough to slow his drug business, police said.

Ervin was in jail for 14 days.

During that time, he called his son to make sure he "knew who not to sell to and how to stay out of trouble," according to the indictment.

Then, on July 3, Ervin and his son kidnapped Kacey Ates and Joseph William Barry, who were working for Kobie Ervin's construction business, police said.

Kobie Ervin told investigators he suspected the two men stole tools, so he recruited his dad to help kidnap them. The Ervins drove the workers to a home on Cornwall Street, where they pistol-whipped them and threatened to kill them, police said.

Police say the Ervins were about to shoot the men when they heard sirens and fled.

"CNT saved these two guys from being murdered," police spokesman Sgt. Mike Wilson said last month.

"Agents jeopardized and halted the covert part of the operation when they intervened to save the lives of the victims kidnapped. By that time, they (police) had sufficient evidence to move forward."

Police found the two construction workers covered with bruises and lacerations, police said.

They were treated at Memorial Health University Medical Center and released.

Hearing for teacher set this week

One of Ervin's co-conspirators is Alycia Jackson Paledino, a computer lab teacher at Charles Ellis Montessori Academy. Paledino, 29, was arrested Sept. 29 on charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. She's now out on bond. In July she was also arrested for possession of marijuana and possession of tools for the commission of a crime, according to jail records.

She's scheduled to attend a termination hearing for job abandonment at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the board office, according to Latisha Arrington, a spokeswoman for the Savannah-Chatham County Public School system.

School officials say Paledino didn't show up for work or apply for leave following her September arrest. Her class is being handled by a substitute.